After 4 FP's, in search of a bit more of performance but still a
boat that can be chartered, I considered
Outremer 51 and
Catana 47. I had a chance to sail extensively O51 but came to the conclusion that she was really cramped, particularly the front cabins were insane. The
boat also seemed to me too delicate to be given as a
bareboat charter.
So, the next option was a 4 cabins, 4 heads
Catana 47 from 2013. I delivered it from Montenegro to Marmaris and wanted to share my experiences with those who could be interested with this specific boat;
-outstanding performance and stability. (see the video)
-very rigid, solid, no squealing whatsoever even in 3-4 meters of short
Med waves.
-cabins are larger than those of O 51 (not as large as the ones on Helia though)
-blocks,
cleats, stoppers, winches..everything is first quality and oversized.
-handling of
sails from
cockpit is great, you don't have to go to the
mast foot for reefing or unreefing.
-finish is not exceptional but quite good.
The down sides:
-no forward visibility at all when seated on the
helm station which is very low. On top, a huge panel of chart plotter and
instruments is installed on yr eye level to make sure that you don't see anything. Thanks God, we had a repetitor in the
saloon..
-These two stairs between the
saloon and the
cockpit were killing me, I hit my
head 3-4 times until I got used to it. (I am 6 ft 2)
-my wife says that kitchen is smaller than the one in Helia..
-the heads don't have a
hatch on ceiling, the only one is very small looking under the bridge which should definately be closed when sailing.
-water and gasoil
tanks could have been a bit bigger.
-the handling of
sails are great but there are hundreds of meters of ropes hanging around in the cockpit.
All in all, the boat is made for sailing safe and fast. This is not the boat for those who are looking for large fridges, fly bridge, largest possible
dinghy and the most powerfull O/B. The boat has a reasonable payload (probably more than O 51) but I am sure the performance will be compromised if overloaded.
Pricewise, it's not
cheap ; at 47 ft the new one comes at app. 720.000 € compared for example 800-810.000 € for O 51, or around 600-650.000 €
new FP 47 and Nautitech 46
Cheers
Yeloya
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